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Cleveland Public Meetings Report – The week of Dec. 11

 

Byline: Anastazia Vanisko and Cleveland Documenters Alyssa Holznagel and Jada Hobson

Dec. 6: Advisory Board, Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services

 

 

40-day stays in temporary housing: The director of the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) told the board that DCFS is using the T-Suites to provide short-term housing for teens in crisis.

 

From January to October 2023, 40 children stayed at the T-Suites, Jacqueline Fletcher said, adding that the average stay was about 40 days. There are eight beds at the location, which is part of the Cleveland Christian Home, a West Side service offering residential care for children.

 

Some children staying at the T-Suites received mental health services and some were involved with the juvenile justice system, according to Fletcher.

 

Where kids go next: Advisory Board Member Andrew Garner, a clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University Hospitals (UH), asked where children are placed after they leave the T-Suites. Fletcher said some go to psychiatric residential treatment facilities outside of Ohio, others have gone to live with relatives, and others have gone to group homes or other group settings.

 

Fletcher said DCFS plans to look through discharge summaries and analyze where kids have gone.

 

Child Protection Team update: Cuyahoga County’s Child Protection Team (CPT) is wrapping up its first year of work. The CPT works with multiple agencies to identify and prevent child abuse and neglect.

 

Jennifer Johnson, executive director of CPT leader Canopy Child Advocacy Center, said the team began taking cases on July 1. As of Dec. 6, the team had seen 38 families for cases of abuse, neglect, or both, according to Johnson.

 

Collaborating with medical providers: The CPT works with MetroHealth, Cleveland Clinic and UH, Johnson said. MetroHealth is providing a child abuse pediatrician, Cleveland Clinic is providing a sexual assault nurse examiner, and UH is providing physician oversight.

 

A medical records clerk can access records across all three hospital systems through the tool Care Everywhere, according to Johnson. She told the DCFS Advisory Board that the ability to share records helps the team make more informed decisions about abuse and neglect.

High turnover rate: Advisory Board Member David Crampton, an associate professor of social work at Case Western Reserve University, said DCFS is budgeted for 401 case workers but has 152 vacancies. He said many case workers leave within six months.

 

Fletcher said that 20 new workers are set to join in January 2024. DCFS is working to meet with every candidate and be transparent about the work they’ll be doing, she said, noting that they are using virtual reality goggles to share on-the-job scenarios people may encounter.

 

Fletcher also said DCFS is improving the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center so that it is more conducive to meeting with families.

 

Advocacy recognition: The board recognized Christian Anderson for his work as a foster youth advocate.

 

Anderson shared a little about his experience in the foster care system. He encouraged DCFS to do more to give kids the life skills they need to successfully transition out of foster care.

 

Anderson also told the board that DCFS employees should always take a trauma-informed approach. Rather than judging kids for bad or disruptive behavior, he asked that they recognize that such behavior comes from living in “survival mode.”

 

Byline: Dakotah Kennedy and Cleveland Documenters Carolyn Cooper and Daniel McLaughlin

Dec. 14: Cleveland Landmarks Commission

 

Going for gold: During a marathon of a Landmarks Commission meeting, the commission approved designating the home of Jesse Owens–four time Olympic gold medalist–as a Cleveland landmark. Cleveland City Council still needs to approve the landmark designation.

Owens, celebrated for his contributions to track and field and to civil rights, moved to Cleveland with his family when he was nine years old in 1922.

The Owens family lived in a couple of houses before landing in what is now Ward 6 in 1934. This is the house Owens lived in when he competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, becoming the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

Ohio Historical Marker approved: The commission also approved a previously installed Ohio Historical Marker within the African American Cultural Gardens located in Ward 9. The marker celebrates the garden’s designation on the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail and the struggle to get the garden dedicated during the civil rights movement.

The African American Cultural Gardens were erected in 1977 and provide Black Clevelanders a place to celebrate Black pride and culture.

 

Byline: Anastazia Vanisko and Cleveland Documenter Dean Jackson

Dec. 14: Lead Safe Advisory Board

 

 

Roadblocks to compliance: Fewer property owners have applied for lead safe certification this year. As a result, the city may not achieve its goal of full compliance with its lead safe ordinance by 2028.

 

The Lead Safe Auditor’s December report to the Lead Safe Advisory Board stated that applications for lead safe certification are down for the fifth quarter in a row, meaning application numbers have been declining for over a year.

 

From July through September, application numbers came in at 355. To achieve full compliance by 2028, application rates would need to increase to about 2,600 applications per quarter.

 

The auditor’s report also stated that 627 properties have renewed their certifications this year while 467 certificates have expired. The report said the trend suggests “ambivalence” from owners when it comes to maintaining compliance.

A new enforcement system: Cleveland’s Department of Building and Housing Director Sally Martin O’Toole said the Residents First legislation, if passed by Cleveland City Council, will make it easier to enforce compliance with the lead safe ordinance.

 

O’Toole said the city has begun fining landlords who don’t comply with the lead safe law. She said the city has issued 150 misdemeanor tickets and is hiring two prosecutors to focus on lead safe enforcement.

 

The Residents First legislation will allow the city to issue civil fines, which O’Toole said is an easier and faster approach than seeking criminal charges.

Targeted marketing: Advisory board members suggested collecting data by census tract to identify areas with rental properties that might not be registered with the city. Previously registered properties are three times more likely to be certified lead safe than unregistered properties, according to the report.

 

Scot Kroehle, an advisory board member and landlord, said the city could use the data to identify census tracts that would most benefit from more marketing and communication about lead safe certification. He said he was worried that landlords in higher-income neighborhoods would have an easier time navigating the bureaucracy of the application process than those in lower-income neighborhoods.

 

O’Toole told Kroehle that the city had to be careful about bringing bias into their process.

 

 

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Cleveland Public Meetings Report – The week of Dec. 4

The Public Meetings Report is produced by Signal Cleveland and Cleveland Documenters. Here’s what happened last week in local public government meetings covered by Cleveland Documenters.

 

Anastazia Vanisko and Cleveland Documenters Barbara Phipps, Dorothy Ajamu and Marvetta Rutherford
Dec. 4: Committee of the Whole, Cleveland City Council

 

Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones (left) talks about wages in Cleveland. (Credit: Cleveland City Council YouTube)

 

Incentivizing ‘poverty wages’: Members of Cleveland City Council spent roughly eight hours Dec. 4 discussing dozens of pieces of legislation ahead of the final meeting of the year. One piece brings changes to the city’s job creation incentive program. The committee approved it – and full council passed it later that night – despite concerns about the program undermining a living wage for workers.

 

Council President Blaine Griffin told council members that the grants and other tools the city used to fund the old program expired. He said the city needed a new tool with more flexibility. The new program will provide tax credits to companies creating 50 or more full-time jobs paying no less than the city’s median wage. According to presenters from the Department of Economic Development, the city median wage is $33,678 annually or $16.19 per hour.

 

Council Member Charles Slife asked that they use the county median wage, which he estimated at $55,000 annually or $26 per hour, to ensure the companies getting the Cleveland tax breaks pay a living wage.

 

Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones agreed. “I do not think we should incentivize people for poverty wages,” she said.

Howse-Jones put forward an amendment to raise the minimum pay to match Cuyahoga County’s median wage.

 

In response, Kate Warren, special assistant to the chief of integrated development, said raising the minimum may deter companies that were willing to pay an amount between the city and county median.

 

Council Member Kerry McCormack said the change might drive companies to take their business outside the city limits. He told council members an amendment was added in a previous committee meeting to incorporate community benefits agreements into the program.

 

Griffin added, “I’m already starting to get some calls and texts in. People are already saying that this would actually kill a couple of deals that are on the table already.”

 

Howse-Jones withdrew her amendment.

Ending with a surplus: Council members also discussed freeing up surplus funds totaling $56 million from the city’s operating budget for other uses.

 

Chief Finance Officer Ahmed Abonamah said that $10.1 million would go to the Division of Streets and $10 million to a new Human Resources (HR) software system. He said another $10 million would go to the West Side Market, pending separate legislation.

 

Council Member Michael Polensek questioned the price tag of the HR software.

 

Abonamah said that there is a high upfront cost, but it will speed up the city’s hiring process since much of it is currently done by hand. He said council approved a new HR software system in 2021.

 

Council Member Richard Starr expressed frustration that Abonamah had told council members last January that council getting an extra $5 million from the city’s casino revenue funds would create too large a gap in the city budget when there is now an approximately $56 million surplus.

 

Abonamah said that a surplus is not guaranteed every year. He said that some of the extra funding was a result of vacant positions.

 

Griffin said that council can decide how to use money that has not been designated for a specific purpose.

 

Legislative marathon: Additional legislation approved in committee and passed at that evening’s City Council meeting included:

 

Byline: Dakotah Kennedy and Cleveland Documenters Karima McCree-Wilson, Timothy Zelina and Anna Truax
Dec. 4: Cleveland City Council

 

Jenna Muhieddine joined other Clevelanders in urging Cleveland City Council to pass a resolution supporting a ceasefire in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. Credit: Cleveland City Council YouTube

 

Still no ceasefire resolution: Despite seven weeks of public comments and protests in support of Palestine, Cleveland City Council closed 2023 without passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. A majority of public commenters again spoke in support of Palestine at council’s last meeting of the year.

 

“Many do not know the basic history. Palestine–prior to 1948–was not an empty land. Today, Israel has annexed and stole almost all of the land while murdering or displacing [Palestinians],” said Jenna Muhieddine of Ward 15.

 

Muhieddine labeled council’s decision to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but not Israel’s war on Gaza as “hypocrisy.” She said council members’ own citizens have begged them to “make Cleveland safer” by passing a ceasefire resolution.

 

As she spoke, she gestured to photos held by audience members of “murdered and injured Gazans.”

 

Muhieddine told City Council that those who do not support Palestinians will not see another term in office.

 

Increased police presence: One speaker observed and questioned an increased number of police at City Council meetings following weeks of protests.

 

“This heightened police presence occurs amidst an ongoing crisis in [the division],” said Kameron Damaska, Ward 17, citing the city’s struggles to employ and retain police officers.

 

Bibb draws criticism: During Council President Blaine Griffin’s acknowledgements, he asked members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity to come to the front of the room. As Mayor Justin Bibb greeted them, members of the audience started chanting, “Mayor Bibb, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

 

Protestors have criticized Bibb for an Oct. 7 statement expressing support for Israel. He recently made further comments condemning Hamas and calling for a “two-state solution” with Palestine and Israel.

 

Newly appointed: Griffin also announced the appointment of five people to the Cleveland Commission on Black Women and Girls. The appointees joining the commission are:

Legislation passed: City Council also passed multiple emergency ordinances that included road repair and public improvement projects. It also approved amendments to the revolving loan fund for home repairs for Southeast Side residents and raised the maximum age for new Cleveland police recruits to 54 from 39 years old.

 

Housing for veterans slated for Union-Miles; market garden planned for Glenville
Byline: Dakotah Kennedy and Cleveland Documenters Pearl Chen and Chanel Wiley

Dec. 6: Cleveland Board of Control

The Cleveland Board of Control approved multiple land parcel purchases from the Cleveland Land Bank. Credit: John G / Shiner Comics

 

Parsing through parcels: Alyssa Hernandez, director of the Department of Community Development, presented six recommendations to lease and sell land parcels. The board approved all six proposals, and all of the land sold or leased was from the Cleveland Land Bank.

 

Two pieces of land went to residents looking to expand their side yards for $200 apiece. One resident plans on using their new land – leased at $1 a year for five years – to maintain a market garden in Glenville.

 

New construction: The Board of Control also approved a land purchase to create housing for veterans in Union-Miles. The project is spearheaded by Union Miles Development Corp. The land sold for $2,600.

 

Structures Unlimited, a construction company, purchased land in Ward 7 for a new commercial or industrial project. The land sold for $41,639.